This lesson describes how to use selected fiction and nonfiction literature and careful questioning techniques to help students identify factual information about animals. Children, first, identify possible factual information from works of fiction which are read aloud, then they listen to read-alouds of nonfiction texts to identify and confirm factual information. This information is then recorded on charts and graphic organizers. Finally, students use the Internet to gather additional information about the animal and then share their findings with the class.

This activity is designed as a project-based learning activity. It allows students to collaborate, requires them to comprehend what they have read and engages them in critical thinking. This activity can be adjusted to fit the needs and grade levels of your students.

Students discuss literature on shadows. Teachers use questioning techniques to probe prior knowledge. Students begin to explore scientific concepts and develop and test hypotheses. After studying shadows, recording observations of shadows, and hearing poetry about shadows, students create their own poetic response incorporating their knowledge.

The story of "The Beauty and the Beast" has captivated us for many years.  It is fun to read or watch a video of.  But did it really happen?  It is fun to compare fiction and nonfiction.  Most students will in their backgrounds relate to a story like this.  Also it is fun for students to learn and then survey others based on what they have learned.

In this lesson, students explore the different purposes readers have and how to determine what their purpose for reading is. Students also learn how to evaluate whether a book is at the right reading level and length for their abilities.

In this lesson, students complete two prewriting activities, one on brainstorming ideas using story maps, and one on creating beginnings of stories. They then work on two collaborative-writing activities in which they draft an "oversized" story on chart paper. Each student works individually to read what has been written before, adds the "next sentence," and passes the developing story on to another student. The story is passed from student to student until the story is complete. In a later lesson Collaborative Stories 2: Revising, the story is revised by the groups.

"Reading like writers," students will explore the ways that stories are structured; then, "writing like writers," students explore organizational structures in their own writing. Students listen to a reading of Long Night Moon, a circular story. Nexzt, they develop their own examples of circular stories which they share out with their peers.

Students engage with the text by talking back to characters in Cinderella, dramatizing events in Bubba the Cowboy Prince, inserting themselves into the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and critiquing and controlling story elements in Little Red Cowboy Hat. After comparing and contrasting Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Cowboy Hat, students plan and create an original fractured tale.

This lesson guides students in writing descriptions of 100th day bottles they create at home. Students will write clues about their bottles for a guessing game, practice descriptive writing, and create a class book. Several pieces of literature appropriate for use with this lesson are suggested.

Students will read books about families and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections using those books. Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. Beginning with a read-aloud of Donald Crews' "Bigmama's", the instructor introduces and models the strategy of making connections. Read-alouds of "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats and "The Relatives Came" by Cynthia Rylant are followed by activities that help students learn to apply each type of text connection when responding to texts. After sharing and discussing connections in a Think-Pair-Share activity, students plan and write a piece describing a personal connection to one of the texts.

This page contains six online fiction books, eight online nonfiction books and puzzles. Each book will read paragraphs, sentences or single words to students as they click on the ear icon or click on what they would like to have read. Nonfiction reading passages include information about nature. Fiction passages are fantasy. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Getting children to use their imaginations when writing a story can sometimes be difficult. Drawing, however, can create a bridge between the ideas in a child's head and the blank piece of paper on the desk. In this lesson, students use factual information gathered from the Internet as the basis for creating a nonfiction story. Story elements, including setting, characters, problem, solution, and endings, are then used as a structure for assembling students' ideas into a fiction story.

Students will learn to embrace how others celebrate their birthdays. They will explore the feelings of others as well as their own feelings as they explore the differences in how people celebrate birthdays. This lesson was developed by Tracey Dix as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

Students will learn about Chinese birthday traditions. Students will celebrate the diversity of people, food, games and traditions globally. This lesson was developed by Leslie Montgomery as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This lesson allows students to investigate birthdays around the world by using text to explore different celebrations and traditions in the world in which we live. The students will listen and learn about the diversity of people, food, games and traditions globally. This lesson was developed by Leslie Montgomery as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

Students will learn to recognize how others celebrate their birthdays around the world. Students will embrace and explore the feelings of others as well as their own feelings as they learn about the differences in how people celebrate birthdays. This lesson was developed by Leslie Montgomery as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this kindergarten activity, students listen to My Teacher's Secret Life, discuss the content, and make predictions about what the teacher and their peers do when they are away from school. After charting both student and teacher activities, the teacher models writing a book of his or her life outside school.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea of shapes through a read-aloud session with an appropriate book. They then use models to learn the names of shapes, work together and individually to locate shapes in their real-world environment, practice spelling out the names of shapes they locate, and reflect in writing on the process.

In this lesson, students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book to read with their families, art supplies, a topic to discuss, and a journal to complete as a family. The students then return the bag the following day and share their entries with the class. After every student has taken the bag home, the journal is bound into a book for the classroom library. The goal is to invite parents to join their children in these literacy activities.

The "I Grow" activities in this lesson will help students understand the abstract concept of time passing. Students will listen as the book When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis is read aloud. They will then write and illustrate a book about themselves using a predictable pattern of text such as, "When I was little, I ____________. Now I ____________."